What kind of lighting do you use?

1 Sunpak Super 383, and two 500w work lights. Planning on getting some 100 and 250 watt ones to run from a light controller so I can control the light at local shows.

I haven't basically had time to get into studio stuff. Perhaps next apartment I rent (or buy) will have an extra room :).
For protable lighting, I have canon 580EX and 420EX. I use them mainly for the magazine/newspaper stuff I'm requested to shoot outside of the concert (for instance, fans that are interviewed by the reporter).

I do not use flash in concert, since I consider it as rude, basically. The audience and the performer won't be happy, and I can manage without. There is one exception, though: punk. I think (and I hope I'm right) the punk audience and performers are the least bothered (next to not at all) by the flashes of light, and they seem to put the least amount of weight to the quality of lighting, for instance (in some cases, the singer spends most of the time in the crowd where there is no lighting). Some examples of flashed punk: http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/thumbnails.php?album=373 One shutter-dragged image: http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/displayimage.php?pos=-3584

http://www.bjorklid.net/
http://www.huumakuva.net/

In inventory...

2 x White Lightning 1600's
2 x Alien Bee 800's
1 mobile battery pack (full power when not outlet is available)
2 large rectangle softboxes
1 large octagon softbox

1 Canon 580EX (I will be picking a couple more of these up now as I am learning how to really use them!)
1 Canon 550EX

3 Pocket Wizards PLUS II's (two more coming!)

48" Gold/White reflector

The studio lights give me power & portability.
Now that I am learning more about Strobist-style shooting, I will be bringing my little speedlights around a bit more often. Being able to shoot high-fashion with lighting that fit in my small camera bag is quite amazing!

99% of the concerts I shoot are at one venue where I act as the 'House Photographer': The Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. I don't use flash shooting concerts there as the talent doesn't generally permit it and there is no need in that the house lighting is quite excellent and includes four super spotlights as well as over 100 of those lovely computerized rotating/changing lighting fixtures and lots of stationary ellipticals ... I guess I should learn the correct brands/names/terminology.

But I do shoot other things and for that I have 580EX and 580 EXII with external battery pack, ST-E2 and two extra battery sets the battery pack. I also carry extra batteries for in-flash and a battery tester. [Actually I carry around a ton of stuff, but most is camera gear.]

And I have been struggling to do more studio work for three or four years. I have two Bowens QUADX generators. These are 3000 Watt Second units with two sets of two asymmetrical channels: using only one flash head can yield the full 3000 w/s or can split across two flash heads; if both channels are used then one splits 2000 w/s and the other splits 1000 w/s. I have six flash heads, four soft boxes, one of which is a 9" x 36" strip. I have numerous lightstands, background stand, a couple of umbrellas and several reflectors with barn doors. Currently my main use of these lights is setting up a Themed Photo Booth at some VIP events and shooting the players. Not a very romantic use for me but the guests, and therefore the casino, love it. I also shoot limited portraits, usually for the casino, in my tiny home studio. I work with a small, local band, Pepe Marquez & The Latin Soul Review (you can Google it) and have done some work with them in the studio. I hope to do much more over time including glamor.

One SB-600 with a coffee filter attached by a rubber band bwahaha! I did just get a remote cord and a LumiQuest bounce so I can throw the coffee filter away lol. I'm hoping to learn something from this thread. I want the least expensive most effective set up. Who doesn't, right?

well being mostly a news photog mor than a concert shooter most of the time, I tend to keep it light. I do use the profoto 7b whenever I think it's worth it. But the thing is that most of my day I will be running around anyway and that profoto is a b**** to carry.
So for everyday work I have two tiny manfrotto lightstands, two sb800, one sb26, elinchrome remotes, one umbrella, two snoots and a piece of paper. David over at strobist is a great resource. And you should see the look on my editors face when I tell em what I lit and how :-)

I dipped into this a bit and will try to get two more SB-600's out of him. I just figured out how to use the camera as the commander and used my 600 of the camera for the first time this morning. The pix are pretty rough but I figured it out nonetheless. Shit, now I wish I hadn't gotten that remote flash cord! I guess I could try and return it...humm...it could offset the cost of one of the 600's. :)

Forgive my ignorance but if I have a built in commander why would I need the SU800. What are the advantages of having it instead of using the on board commander? Is it that the SU800 wont send out pre-flashes like the on board will do. That was rather annoying.

So that is the difference. Yes, you do have to have the pop-up flash up for it to work. It sends out little pre-flashes to the remote flashes. It is quite annoying. I'll check into the SU800. :)

I have used multiple studio flashing from bowens to interfit. It all depends on what studio I am working in. In my own studio at home though I use lastolite lumen8 400W and have 6 heads.

For concert photography, I prefer to avoid using flash, but often the stage lighting (or club lighting, or bar lighting) is so bad that it must be supplemented.

I still use fast prime lenses (f/1.4 or f/1.8) so that I can select the minimum flash intensity - just enough to fill in shadows and/or add crispness to the shot. I use the Nikon Creative Lighting System - I have three SB-800s and one SB-600. I set up off-camera flash units with whatever will hold them in place - bungee cords, various clips & clamps, etc. I always shoot using manual exposure and manual flash - often my flash is turned down to 1/64 or 1/128 output in the manual mode.

Bill Rogers
http://IShootMusicians.com